Survivor host Jeff Probst has compared Season 41 of Survivor to a "monster in a horror movie," teasing that the new season will be unprecedented and feature "a brand new game."
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Jeff captioned the post, "Wednesday night is @survivorcbs night on @cbstv. We're back with a MONSTER of a season on September 22nd with a 2hr premiere."
Survivor's longtime host revealed in the video, "Hey all, we are back from shooting Survivor 41... I just wanted to check in and let you know that Survivor was tough for the players."
"Because think about it," he elaborated, "we had an entire year where we weren't shooting, so all we had was time to think. And that's a dangerous thing."
Following a year-long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, Survivor's crew returned to Fiji in March 2021 to film two seasons of the CBS series back to back.
"It led to us creating a new game that is much more dangerous," Jeff continued in the video.
"You could refer to it as Survivor 2.0. You could call it 'dawn of a new era,' which it is. You could refer to Survivor 41 by saying, 'Drop the 4, keep the 1' because this is a brand new game. All of these are true!"
Survivor will be celebrating 21 years on the air this fall, and Jeff previously teased in early June there will be "new things" going down next season.
"Here's the best way to think of this new version of Survivor," Jeff said. "Survivor 41 is like the monster in a horror movie, and if you're a player, it's coming for you."
"So either you devour the monster, or the monster will devour you," he added. "It's going to be good to be back and I look forward to seeing you there!"
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According to Inside Survivor, the upcoming Survivor edition will roll out some significant format changes -- including the game shortening to 26 days instead of the usual 39 days.
Survivor's new season reportedly does not have a theme and will showcase more brutal and demanding physical challenges than ever before.
In addition, rewards for the castaways will be basic and minimal, with no big feasts. Survivor players will not even be guaranteed flint at all times, and everything comes at a price, Inside Survivor reported.
Following its special two-hour premiere on September 22, Survivor will continue to air new episodes on Wednesday nights in its normal 8-9PM ET/PT timeslot beginning on September 29.
In late March, Jeff tweeted a video in which he said he was "thrilled" to begin production again amid the pandemic and cast and crew had all agreed to follow "COVID protocols" to keep everyone safe.
"I've got to tell you, I can't remember a time when I've been this pumped to shoot Survivor," Jeff said at the time, adding, "The past year has reminded me... that you've got to live your life like it's one big, great adventure, and Survivor fulfills that."
CBS first announced in March 2020 during the onset of coronavirus Survivor would be postponing the back-to-back production of its 41st and 42nd seasons that were originally scheduled to air in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.
Season 41 of Survivor was supposed to begin filming on March 24, 2020 in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, however Jeff informed crew members at the time cameras would not start rolling until at least May 2020 due to COVID-19, according to Entertainment Weekly.
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Season 42 of Survivor was reportedly set to begin filming on May 24, a few weeks after Season 41 was scheduled to wrap production.
When May 2020 rolled around, CBS announced that Season 41 of Survivor was slated to air in Fall 2020 in its longtime Wednesday at 8PM ET/PT timeslot.
However, Jeff admitted in July 2020 that producers still didn't have a plan in place.
"There are all kinds of things happening in the world right now -- certainly they impact the physical aspects of production... Shooting in a foreign country is exponentially more complicated, and we are still exploring them," Jeff explained to The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
"I'm on the phone every couple of days, either with the government of Fiji or with our executive teams that are in charge of logistics and planning. We're continuing to lay out ideas. We don't have a plan yet."
"It's what we're spending all our time doing because it's not like we're going to Atlanta to shoot a show," he added.
The Hollywood Reporter, however, pointed out to Jeff that Fiji had declared itself coronavirus free.
"They've done an incredible job of controlling the virus. They've had a total of only 15 cases in their entire country, and they've had no active cases for months," Jeff said.
"They have figured out how to handle it, and they just want to ensure that when we come shoot there, we don't change that. We're working together with them, but they've been very production-friendly in terms of wanting it to happen."
But since Survivor's crew is comprised of people from all over the world, closed borders and travel bans amid COVID-19 prevented the show from being able to commence filming in Fiji, which has served as Survivor's filming location since Season 33 in 2016.
The start of production was therefore pushed back again until at least September of last year, and Survivor was ultimately pulled from the network's Fall 2020 schedule.
RELATED LINK: 'SURVIVOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER?! WHICH SHOWMANCES SPLIT UP? (PHOTOS)
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Survivor's most recent edition, Season 40 dubbed Survivor: Winners at War, aired its finale on May 13, 2020.
Returning castaway Tony Vlachos became the franchise's second two-time winner and walked away with the show's largest cash prize in history of $2 million.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
